1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system storage devices, and more particularly to enhanced storage device replacement system and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems often generate and access large quantities of stored information. Reliable storage of information has become increasingly important for enterprises and individuals, with many important documents maintained only in electronic formats. To reduce the risk of information loss, information handling systems and networks typically maintain redundant copies of information on separate storage devices. One common storage technique for maintaining redundant copies of information is a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), which maintains redundant copies of information on separate non-volatile storage devices according to a variety of algorithms. For example, RAID-1 mirrors each storage device on another storage device so that either storage device can take over storage functions if the other storage device fails. Other RAID algorithms, such as RAID-5, use parity and/or striping to more efficiently store information. For example, rather than mirroring a complete hard disk drive, portions of stored information are mirrored to different hard disk drives to ensure redundancy. If a physical hard disk drive fails, it is re-created at a replacement hard disk drive with a parity operation that retrieves stripes from the other hard disk drives of the array.
One difficulty with re-creation of a storage device in a RAID array by a parity operation is that storage functions at the array must generally be kept up as the parity operation is performed. Thus, replacing a failed RAID storage device can be a complex task that takes a considerable amount of time and storage array resources. During the time taken to re-build a failed storage device, the array is susceptible to failure of another storage device, which may result in a permanent loss of data. Further, while information is transferred from existing storage devices to a replacement storage device, I/O performance is degraded. One attempt to address this difficulty is a “Replace Member” feature that allows an end user to replace a physical storage device that is part of a storage array with another storage device before a failure takes place. The Replace Member feature can be invoked manually by an end user or automatically by a RAID controller based upon a predicted failure of a storage device. Once the Replace Member function initiates, a direct copy of the source storage device that is being replaced is made to the replacement storage device. If the source storage device fails before the Replace Member function completes, then the Replace Member function cancels. The replacement storage device then has the source storage device rebuilt from other storage devices of the array using the normal parity operation.